Estimates of dilepton spectra from open charm and bottom decays in relativistic heavy ion collisions

Abstract The spectra of lepton pairs from correlated open charm and bottom decays in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions are calculated. Our approach includes energy loss effects of heavy quarks in deconfined matter which are determined by temperature and density of the expanding parton medium. We find a noticeable suppression of the initial transverse momentum spectrum of heavy quarks due to the energy loss at LHC conditions. Within the central rapidity covered by the ALICE detector system, the dominant contribution from bottom decays to the high invariant mass dielectron spectrum is predicted.